St. John's, NL - Repeat perfomances: Malorie Harris, Sean Cleary named 2015 St. John's athletes of the year
Sean Cleary
ORIGINAL STORY from Telegram Sports  with photos
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Galway Hitmen take team of the year honours
Soccer star Malorie Harris and softball phenom Sean Cleary were named Molson-Coors St. John's Athletes of the Year for 2015 during a banquet Wednesday night at City Hall.
It was Harris's third straight year winning the award, and Cleary's second athlete of the year honour in as many years. The Galway Hitmen senior men's softball team, whose roster included Cleary, came away with the team of the year award. Harris enjoyed another fine year on the soccer pitch to win the Margaret 'Mag' Davis Memorial Award. She led the provincial Jubilee Trophy senior women's soccer league with 31 goals for C.B.S. Kirby United SC, and was named regular-season MVP and all-star striker. At the 2015 national championships, Harris led Kirby United with three goals in four games. She was named the Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association's senior female player of the year for a sixth straight year. A Royal Newfoundland Constabulary police officer, Harris scored 16 goals in five games to help Reign FC, an Alberta-based team, to a bronze medal in women's soccer at the World Police and Fire Games. It was a close vote for female athlete of the year as Harris beat out target shooter and 2015 Canada Winter Games gold medallist Samantha Marsh by only two points, 34-32. Ball hockey player April Drake, who starred for Canada on the world stage in Switzerland, was third in voting with 16 points. Cleary established himself as one of the best in his field anywhere with big performances in international play last year. Competing for Canada in the world championship, Cleary was 5-0 in 33 innings pitched, with a 2.97 ERA and 47 strikeouts as Canada won gold in Saskatoon. Weeks later, he again suited up for Canada at the Pan American Games in Toronto, and went 4-0, with a 0.97 ERA and 40 strikeouts. He tossed a one-hitter in 2-0 win over Argentina in the playoff round and started the final against Venezuela, allowing one run on one hit in seven innings. Canada won gold. At the nationals, he was the playoff MVP as the Hitmen went all the way. Locally, he was MVP of the provincial senior tournament and was the playoff MVP in the St. John's senior league. Cleary also played with the Toronto Gators at the ISC World Fastball tournament, winning silver and named a second team All-World pitcher. Cleary easily won the Tom 'Dynamite' Dunne Memorial Award as male athlete of the year, finishing with 45 points. Wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey player Liam Hickey, who competed in the ParaPan American Games in Toronto, was second with 21, while powerlifter Josh Hancott totalled 18 points. The Hitmen won Newfoundland's fourth straight national senior men's championship in Ste. Agathe-St-Gervais, Que. Galway posted a 4-1 preliminary round record, and blanked opponents 4-0 and 8-0 in first two playoff games. The Hitmen defeated the East Hants, N.S., Mastodons 4-3 in the final. In addition to Cleary being named playoff MVP, many other members of the Hitrmen earned honours at the tourney as Brad Ezekiel was MVP of the preliminary round, Jeremy O'Reilly the top batter, Ryan Kirk the all-star catcher and Jason Hill the all-star utility player. The softball squad totalled 36 points in the annual awards voting. Brad Gushue's curling team had 23 and the Canada Games gold-medal shooting team of Marsh and Hayley Barrett had 17 points. Awards were presented by St. John's Mayor Dennis O'Keefe, along with representatives of the Dunne and Davis families and Molson-Coors. sports@thetelegram.com Twitter: @telysports Facebook.com/telysports
